French Morocco in ig$8 235
on everything, British visitorss when obtaining a vise
from the Consulate-General's office to pass through the
Spanish zone, were informed that it was dangerous to
visit the cities in the French Protectorate^ even Fez
being included in the warning This seemed, if any-
thing, to be going to the other extreme, for though
there had been cases in Rabat and Meknes, Fez had
remained to a large extent immune, except for a small
number of previously infected people who had come
up from the south It must be remembered there are
always some typhus cases in Morocco, but for travellers
who stay in French hotels and do not come into contact
with the poor people as some of the French officials
do5 the risk is negligible unless there is an epidemic
No, I cannot help thinking the whole policy a mis-
taken one and that the issue of frank official statements
would not only have been more honest., but also would
have paid in the long run by destroying the oppor-
tunities of that lying jade rumour. I myself travelled
in the French zone in February and March In Fez,
where I frequented the medina and ate in the Moorish
restaurants, there was little if any danger,, though 1
must admit that the alarmist tales so prevalent in
Tangier made one walk far more delicately than Agag
ever did. By the middle of March in actual fact the
situation in Marrakesh was well in hand, though the
position in Casablanca gave cause for some anxiety,
and the medical authorities anticipated that by the
beginning of June all risk should be at an end and the
disease stamped out.
The attitude of the Arabs as regards typhus was
somewhat amusing, former belief in kismet and trust in
Allah having, it seemed, disappeared before the ad-
vance of civilization My Fasi friends viewed the